The Cure
Songs of a Lost World
What’s the story?
Songs of a Lost World, the 14th studio album from the Cure, might just be unprecedented. The statistical circumstances surrounding the album are unique: this is the first completely new material from an influential band in 16 years, arriving about five years after it was initially scheduled, and after the group had been regularly playing some of the songs at their consistently popular concerts for years. It’s not the typical release schedule, even for a legacy act.
Worth a listen?
The eight songs that make up Songs of a Lost World aspire to and often reach the same slow-moving grandeur of the Cure’s high-water mark album, 1989’s Disintegration. Themes of loss, isolation, impermanence and mortality are all translated into Robert Smith’s signature melodic melancholia, all of it delivered in deep, drawn-out, sweeping movements. The nearly seven-minute opener Alone sets the pace, with dense swirls of synths, simple, pounding drums and the kind of lengthy building intro that the band perfected on some of their best songs. It’s a solid three minutes before Smith starts singing, but the arrangement creates an atmosphere that’s hard not to get lost in. It’s a win against slim odds that the band would make a solid, listenable album almost 50 years in, and with almost 20 of those passing since their last new set of songs. It’s a new chapter late in the game so unexpectedly powerful that it’s nothing short of stunning.
Willie Nelson
Last Leaf on the Tree
Although recognised as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Willie Nelson is a master interpreter who can make any song his own, which is why his covers albums, like 2024’s poignantly rustic Last Leaf on the Tree, are often his most affecting. Produced and recorded with his son Micah Nelson, the album finds the 91-year-old Nelson easing into a handful of thoughtfully curated songs by artists from across the musical spectrum. Nelson brings an immense gravitas and pathos to these performances with his trademark light vocal warble, punctuated by just a hint of aged grit.
Kylie Minogue
Tension II
Arriving just a year after its elder sibling, this sequel set continues the pop diva’s early-2020s winning run of irresistible dance anthems. Tension II keeps those feet firmly planted on the dancefloor with a decent collection that ranges from breezy B-side-level filler to marquee bangers. For fans craving more of Kylie’s excellent early-2020s output, Tension II delivers.
Jerry Cantrell
I Want Blood
I Want Blood is a bold and bruising nine-song set befitting an architect of grunge and alternative hard rock. Fused to a more metal-leaning foundation, Cantrell’s signature minor-key harmonies, doomy melodic turns and snarling guitar work echo his best work with Alice in Chains, and that heavier approach adds gravitas to nearly every moment on what’s already an emotionally hefty record.
